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Archive for May 2017

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

I've been a busy little girl lately and haven't had much time to stamp. I got a hankering to do a big clean up around the house so I rented a dumpster and spent last week filling it up with a trove of junk that I have been apparently collecting since I bought my house in 1991. It's amazing how much stuff you can accumulate in 25 years! It felt good to purge, I can tell you that!

But on to bigger and better things I say. And what better way to kick off my stamping week with a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. This week our lovely designer is Kim and she's given us a great one that I am sure you will love!

I had a look-see at the color challenge at Global Design Project and knew right away that I wanted to play along. There was a time when I saw green on a color challenge and automatically my mind went to leaves which then went to flowers. So, not one to ignore a good sign, that is exactly the direction I went with on my card.

My half-moon doily didn't quite take up all the space on the front of my card like the one in the sketch does so I improvised by topping it off with a small horizontal strip. I quite like how it looks.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time this week to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches. For inspiration look no further than our very own talented design team members who have offered up some gorgeous cards for you to see!

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Thursday, May 25, 2017

I know I've said this before but sometimes if I am stumped about a card I need to make for a particular challenge I find that all of a sudden I will see something or hear something and right away a light bulb goes off in my head and I get an idea for the card. That is pretty much what happened to me for my CAS(E) This Sketch card.

The oval on the sketch had me mentally reviewing my stash wondering what if I had any oval dies or a stencil that might lend itself to an oval shape. I was coming up with no good ideas and I was starting to get desperate. It was nearly 10 PM on Tuesday and I really didn't want to go to bed without making a card. Then lo and behold I saw the "loud" cue word at CASology and an idea started to take shape. "Bam" is an onomatopoeia, right? And it's loud! And the oval? I realized it didn't need to be "oval!" The "pink" challenge at Addicted to CAS was kind of a cool take on my idea so I incorporated three shades of pink on my card and I heat embossed the sentiment onto vellum for the AAA challenge.

The whole card fell into place within a half hour or so - once I stumbled on the initial idea for it. I've learned that even duing those times when I'm super frustrated because my mojo seems to have gone on walkabout, inspiration will inevitably strike like a lightening bolt!

Thanks for stopping by. And I hope that our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch will inspire you like a lightening bolt! We'd love to see you in the gallery!

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Wednesday, May 24, 2017

It's time for another great challenge from Freshly Made Sketches! This week Linda has designed our sketch and you are going to love it!

The "flowers" in the sketch turned into squares on my card which gave me an excuse to call this a "man-card." I'll confess that the color challenge at Just Us Girls was real incentive to that end. And in keeping with a no-frills masculine theme I followed the AAA Challenge and turned the square on the sketch to a square of embossing paste using a new-to-me stencil, and the shapes I've used are quite geometric which follows the latest Less is More challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. There's loads of inspiration over at Freshly Made Sketches so be sure to check out the design team cards. I hope you can join us in the gallery!

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Friday, May 19, 2017

TGIF! That's what I say. I also say it's time to play along with the latest Tag You're It challenge. We've got a new format there - one that will give you lots of time to play along with us.

You'll now have four weeks to play along with the challenge and every member of the design team will play along too. Each Friday there will be new inspiration on the Tag You're It blog and this week it's my turn to share my project designed by our guest featured artist Lindsey.

When I saw Lindsey's tag I knew instantly what stamp set I was going to use. I kept the same red and green theme and used this old favorite floral stamp. I also used a "hello" sentiment but I stamped mine in black because I wanted a bit more contrast.

I spent about 15 minutes hunting around my stamp room looking for the red gingham ribbon you see on my tag. I had a vague idea that I owned some but I wasn't 100% sure. But I persevered in my quest and just when I was about to admit defeat and give up I found it! It's an old spool from Stampin' Up! and I don't think that I even used it before because there was still the celophane strip wrapped around the ribbon!

Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to Tag You're Itto check out the latest round of inspiration from our design team. I hope to see you in the gallery!

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Thursday, May 18, 2017

I'm on vacation from work next week but apparently my brain decided to start early because I completely forgot to write my blog post for the newest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch! So better late than never:

If you look closely at the sketch you'll see a small vertical strip on the left hand side. I totally missed that on my card - I am clearly in need of this vacation! Other than that I think I kept to the spirit of the sketch and using the colors from The Paper Players I made a rather eclectic floral card.

Short and sweet tonight. I've got another blog post to schedule tonight - my name would be mud if I missed two in a row! Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week. And don't forget to check out the inspiration from our always amazing design team!

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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

I can hardly believe it's that time again, but brace yourselves: I am the sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week!. Always a bit of a nail biter, if I'm honest. Here goes nothing:

Some sketch designers make a card with images and embellishments that are pleasing to themselves and then {poof} they have a sketch. Not me. Nope. No way. I think up a sketch and then scramble to make it into an actual card. This one gave me a bit of trouble. But in the end I relied on my tried and true friends - kraft and a butterfly to make everything right!

The cue card this week at CASology is "warm" and I'm going to throw my hat in the ring over there as well with this one. I always think of kraft as a warm color, my butterfly is die cut from another warm color, and butterflies are something I see always during the summer - which is also warm!

I sure hope that you like my sketch this week and will join us in the gallery. If you need inspiration look no further than Freshly Made Sketches where the design team has got some great cards to get your creative juices flowing. I hope to see you in the gallery!

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Thursday, May 11, 2017

When I first saw the latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge I thought of using some patterned paper for one of those layers. But I really wanted to see if I could do a one layer card using stamped images to take the place of the major elements of the sketch.

It took me three tries before I got this to look the way I wanted! The first attempt had splotchy images which I blamed on the stamp positioner that I was using. The second attempt looked ok, but I used micro pore tape on the card front to hold it in place while I stamped and when I removed it, it took a piece of card stock with it. Sometimes it's not as low-tack as I'd like.

The third time proved to be the charm and it ended up being pretty much what I had envisioned when I started. Besides the yellow I used a couple of different grays in keeping with the color challenge at Less is More.

I'm constantly amazed at how my CAS(E) This Sketch teamies interpret the sketches with their own cards week after week and I am sure that you are too. This week is no exception so please check them out before you join us in the gallery!

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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

It seems like just yesterday I was posting a card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and here I am doing it again! I must be busy if I missed a whole week going by! This week our sketch comes from Jen Timko and I predict you are going to love how wide open it is to your interpretation.

I had a hankering to use the colors from Cupcake Inspirationsso I went with a Perfect Plum background along with some dark and light greens for the flourish and leaves. I had first stamped the flower in Perfect Plum but the color was too dark for my taste so I redid it using a little technique I learned recently from my FMS teamie Amy. She uses a technique that she describes here as an alternative to "stamping off." I find that sometimes "stamping off" causes a bit of a blotchy image but using a sponge dauber to ink up the stamp gives the same effect without the blotchiness.

We'd love to have you join us at Freshly Made Sketches for our latest challenge. I'm sure you'll be inspired by the cards made by the design team. I know I am!

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Thursday, May 4, 2017

It's Thursday again and time for a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch. Although the sketch says flowers I went in a bit of a different direction!

I was contemplating a design at work the other day and asked a co-worker for her ideas for this sketch. She is not a card maker or paper crafter so it was fun to hear her suggestions. I think flip flops, seashells, and fish were among her ideas! I don't actually have stamps with any of those images so I had to keep thinking. I wanted to keep the triangular design of the focal image sort of tucked in the corner and remembered this little elf and I figured he fit the bill. The way he is sprawled with those Christmas lights mimics the general layout of the sketch I think. There's an anything Christmas theme at The Merry Christmas Challenge this month so I'm going to add this over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to check out the inspiration from the CAS(E) This Sketch design team. Please join us in the gallery!

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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

I think the sun is supposed to come out today! It's been rather dreary around here lately and everyone I know is anxious to see the sun. A harbinger of great things to come, I'm sure! We'll start with today's great thing: a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches! Our hostess is Narelle and she surprised us with a sketch that only has three layers! But I suppose you could sneak one or two more on there if you wanted!

I took a little liberty with that circle and used a dragonfly instead. I hope you can see it on there! I used a few grungy stamps to make the background so I could play along with Addicted to CAS, used yellow, a die cut, and sequins so I could play along with The Paper Players and coincidentally there's a sequin challenge at CAS on Sunday. Whew! That's my challenge limit!

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have cooked up some amazing cards this week so be sure to check them out and play along with us!

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I'm just a girl who loves paper and ink. I've been stamping for many years since a friend invited me to her house to make my own Christmas cards. By day I'm a number cruncher at a bank so I love being able to finish the day with some paper, images and ink.

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This is my personal blog and I am solely responsible for the content. I'm happy to share my creations with you for your own personal use and inspiration. You are free to CASE my work, but I would appreciate acknowledgement and a link back here if you do. Please do not represent anything you find here as your own, use my designs as contest submissions, or submit my designs to any publication. Thank you!